HOMEPAGE REVIEWS Swedish Musiklandet

PILGRIM^ PILGRIM (DUSTCD19) There are the Louvin Brothers, the Stanley Brothers, the Osborne Brothers &endash; now we've got the Forsman Sisters singing lead and harmony with the band Pilgrim! And you'll recognize the magic of siblings singing together. In september 2005 Pilgrim, based in Gothenburg, Sweden, makes their CD-debut. The band have been playing together for four years. In front are the two twin sisters Karin Forsman and Maria Forsman-Larsson. The way they sing together is special and are an important part of the sound. As a listener you feel the roots. The other members are Tomas Larsson (mandolin and electric guitar), Marcus Svensson (dobro and slide), Peter Grahn (guitar and banjo), Christian Kullberg (upright bas) and Martin Fürst (drums). Together they have experience form a broad range of music styles in Sweden as well as internationally. For example Tomas is a member of the folk music group Orust known for their coarse lyrics. They will release a new CD later this fall. Marcus plays deep delta blues, inspired by Robert Johnson, and released a CD on the leading swedish blueslabel Last Buzz (Knock-Out Greg, Bluebirds etc) Karin and Maria owns the bar KoM in Gothenburg where they host live music four nights a week. It was here Pilgrim was formed gathered together for the love of countrymusic. Maybe also for the taste of the fantastic fish soap on the bar's menu. The bar became their homeground - a place for rehearsel and also through several shows getting a reputation as a very tight live band. First they only had old classics on their playlist, some well known, some lesser but always done with that special Pilgrim feel. During the last year they have included some original songs, mostly written by Tomas and Peter and on the CD their is five of them among songs by Buck Owens, Louvin Brothers, Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline och Carter Family and more. It was at a show at KoM Jan Andersson from Dusty Records first came across Pilgrim. He immediate got hooked by what he heard and included the band on the compilation Rockin' At the Barn vol 4. Many reviews of the CD stated Pilgrim as the highlight. Order CD

Haga Hillbillies!

Stampubliken på Karin och Marias Bar i Göteborg är bara att avunda. Detta etablissemang har uppenbarligen varit stamställe för Pilgrim. Här man inte bara repat ihop sej, jobbat ihop sin repertoar, utan också spelat otaliga gånger under flera år.

Pilgrim består av ett gäng rutinerade musiker med tvillingsystrarna Karin och Maria Forsman i förgrunden. Man delar sin repertoar med låtar från den amerikanska ur-country & western katalogen med egenhändiga kompositioner i samma stil.

Detta så bra att engelska countrybladet Maverick går så långt i sitt tyckande att man säger sej föredra Pilgrim´s version av Patsy Cline´s "I Love You Honey" före originalet.

På detta album finns dessutom låtar i original inspelade av Johnny Cash, Louvin Brothers och The Carter Family. Man har en helsikes känsla för originalen men är ändå inte rädda för att ge låtarna sin egen touch. När man tacklar Buck Owen´s "Tiger By The Tail" sitter faktiskt undertecknad och bara flinar av förtjusning. Äntligen har Sverige kommit så långt i sin egen countytradition att man kan förtränga otaliga TV-program där deltagarna dansat squaredans i studios maskerade till Texaslador.

Hank Williams må ha lämnat det jordiska för över 50 år sedan men hans ande lever kvar. När man dessutom i "tack"-avdelningen på albumets booklet nämner Ray Davies, mannen som skapade Muswell Hillbillies, då lyfter jag på min imaginära hatt åt Pilgrims håll.

Lennart Wrigholm, Musiklandet